Hall of Fame 2017 results: Tim Raines completes Cooperstown climb

The Hall of Fame needed a big Class of 2017 to loosen the logjam on the ballot. It was close to getting another fivesome, but it has to settle for a trio and further intense debate next year.

Tim Raines cleared the 75-percent barrier by plenty on his last ballot, receiving support on 86.2 percent of the 442 ballot cast. Ivan Rodriguez sneaked over it on his first at 76 percent. Jeff Bagwell led the way with 86.2 percent in his seventh year to complete the class.

Raines is the big name for White Sox fans, and he was finally rewarded for his long wait. He required 10 years of campaigning because he could never match the production of his Montreal days after leaving for bigger markets, and his breadth of skills and contributions required a closer look.

While it’s true Raines was more of a true great with the Expos than he was with the White Sox, he wore the “role player” look well over his five years on the South Side. He hit .283/.375/.407 over his five seasons, two of which were shortened by the strike. Durability wasn’t really an issue for Raines with the Sox. He appeared in 87 percent of the games the Sox played, or 141 over an 162-game season.

Wins Above Replacement didn’t exist during Raines’ Chicago stay, but his WAR total with the White Sox — 16.5, or 3.3 per season — frames him fittingly as the above-average regular he was at the top of the order. If you like counting stats, he scored 102 runs in both 1991 and 1992, and he was on pace for 113 in the strike season.

Down the ballot, Trevor Hoffman fell 1 percent short of induction at 74 percent, and Vladimir Guerrero looks like a lock in 2018 as well. On the back end, Jorge Posada was the ballot’s biggest victim, a one-and-done tragedy after getting just 3.8 percent of the vote. That doesn’t bode well for somebody like Scott Rolen, who has to contend with Jim Thome, Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones for first-ballot attention next season.

The complete results:

• Jeff Bagwell, 86.2%
• Tim Raines, 86%
• Ivan Rodriguez, 76%
• Trevor Hoffman, 74%
• Vladimir Guerrero, 71.7%
• Edgar Martinez, 58.6%
• Roger Clemens, 54.1%
• Barry Bonds, 53.8%
• Mike Mussina, 51.8%
• Curt Schilling, 45%
• Lee Smith, 34.2%
• Manny Ramirez, 23.8%
• Larry Walker, 21.9%
• Fred McGriff, 21.7%
• Jeff Kent, 16.7%
• Gary Sheffield, 13.3%
• Billy Wagner, 10.2%
• Sammy Sosa, 8.6%
• Jorge Posada, 3.8%
• Magglio Ordonez, 0.7%
• Edgar Renteria, 0.5%
• Jason Varitek, 0.5%
• Tim Wakefield, 0.2%